Coping with Health Threats: The costs and benefits of managing emotions.
How people respond to health threats can influence their own health and, when facing communal risks, even their community's health. We propose that people commonly respond to health threats by managing their emotions with cognitive strategies like reappraisal, which can reduce fear and protect mental health. However, because fear can also motivate health behaviors, reducing fear may also jeopardize health behaviors. In two diverse U.S. samples (N=1,241) tracked across three months, sequential and cross-lag panel mediation models indicated that reappraisal predicted lower fear about an ongoing health threat (COVID-19), and in turn, better mental health, but fewer recommended physical health behaviors. This trade-off was not inevitable, however: using reappraisal to increase socially-oriented positive emotions predicted better mental health without jeopardizing physical health behaviors. Examining the costs and benefits of how people cope with health threats is essential for promoting better health outcomes for individuals and communities.